“We all do our best to keep people warm,” says Kennedy, whose work on “Fargo” is up for an Emmy for outstanding makeup for a miniseries or movie.
Monday, August 29, 2016
‘Fargo’ Makeup Artist Keeps Cast Looking Just Right in Cold Climate
“We all do our best to keep people warm,” says Kennedy, whose work on “Fargo” is up for an Emmy for outstanding makeup for a miniseries or movie.
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It had never occurred to me that makeup would freeze on people. coming from Florida this was an exceedingly interesting article to read. having only mild experience with snow and cold weather it was interesting that the used lots of moisturizers along with the makeup but it only makes sense. Keeping the makeup bags under parkas was interesting as well i can only assume they dont have a mobile makeup van or something of the sorts. still a very interesting read.
Like Unknown said, I had never really thought about the fact that makeup could freeze, either on the person wearing it, or when it is still in the bottle. I think this is something that very very few people would actually recognize as something to be impressed by when watching the show. The weather must pose such a huge challenge and honestly just a huge annoyance to Kennedy and her crew. I also greatly admire Kennedy's dedication to her work. She did research on the makeups and products used during the time period of the show, and actually went out of her way to acquire those materials. Though I have never watched the show, it seems like this would be a really intense job, between the frostbite mentioned in the article, as well as the injuries that the characters seem to take (judging by the photo). Makeup artists in general are always incredible to me when they are able to make such realistic looking wounds, but this is especially impressive, since she has to use products that literally work with the environment.
I guess at least she does not have to worry about the actors sweating their makeup off.
When reading up on "Fargo" a few years beck, when the series was still new, I remember hoping, deep down inside, that on location shoots were kept to a minimum. As someone with many Midwestern relatives, I was brought up with a sincere fear/respect of the power of the Canadian jet stream. That being said, I am even more impressed with this series, and the incredible people that work on it, after reading this article. Whether hugging makeup close to prevent it from freezing in subzero chill, or convincing frozen fingers to work faster for the sake of frigid actors, the make-up artists working on this show deserve every bit of accolade they get, and more. Few shows offer such a unique opportunity to test the limits of modern make-up and special effects, and I'm sure that "Fargo" may end up creating a niche market for such durable products. On this note, I'd love to hear more about the problems that make-up artists face shooting in extreme locations, and the tricks they use to ensure their work doesn't melt, frizz, drip, freeze,or blow away.
As a person who was born in the frigid wasteland that is Fargo, North Dakota I felt compelled to comment on this article. I have seen a few episodes and I have to say that the show really hits he nail on the head in terms of the location, although it is shot in Canada, the accents and really just the coldness, yet goofiness of the people themselves. And I had no idea these folks were actually outside in that monstrous weather. So really kudos to everyone involved in the effort, especially the makeup artists. It just really shows how the people in the arts are constantly having to adapt to new issues and figure out solutions to the weirdest of problems that audience will never even think of. Who would guess they had to have freeze proof makeup? The audience is probably too busy reacting to whatever gory death on the show that just happened to even think about it. And that's the beauty of it. Their care for the actors, and meticulous artistry of their craft allows the audience to believe, no matter the circumstances. So again, really congrats to anyone who can brave the cold, cold plains.
Being from Sothern California, where the weather is pretty consistently moderate, weather conditions are not on the forefront of my mind at any time. What I really like about this article is it talked about the role the weather played in deciding what products to use and the treatment of those products. It would be awful to have a product freeze on an actor. The weather is just one more condition that the make up artist have to consider when making choices for productions. In theater I don’t think this would be as big a consideration as it is in film and television because theater doesn’t shoot on location. Maybe in outdoor theater this might be something to consider, but I’m not sure how much outdoor theater is being done in the cold conditions because a theater can just move inside because there is nothing requiring it to be in one physical location or the other.
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